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What are we eating this week?

Hello, Folks! Two posts in a weekend! Aren't you all honoured by my presence? (wink) Over at the Teapot you can find out the happy, happy things happening in my life at the moment (that's sarcasm, that is!). But one truly happy thing was the arrival of Si King and Dave Myers at the Fat Dormousehold in the form of the Hairy Dieters Book, so I will tell you about how I am going to put them to good use this week! (I wish they really were here to cook for me!)

First, let's find an inspiring picture

So, off we go!
Today we're having the venison roast I told you about last week. I didn't marinate it in the end. I'm just going to make a fruity sauce with a bit of pickle, a bit of port, and some stock. That way, I don't have to open a bottle of wine that we would then have to drink!

MONDAY: Cold (or may be flash fried) venison with mash, (mixed with apples and leeks) and a green vegetable.

TUESDAY: Venison burgers - I really hope there'll be enough meat to do three meals! It was expensive, so I really want to try to get three lots of main courses from it. If the minced meat looks a bit sparse I'll add a grated courgette to the mix (as suggested by my two favourite men of the moment!) I'll do potato wedges and salad with these. I've decided to try to do more soups than salads as starters - the salads were coming out at about 200 calories when I added all the ingredients together (the dressings added more than I imagined) which is too much, so I thought veggie packed soups would be better. Angela has one that is just the job, as I've got loads of carrots to use up. This, according to My Fitness Pal, is 113 calories per portion (if the recipe serves 4)

WEDNESDAY: I'm going to make a bean and vegetable stew - basically, I'm planning on throwing all my bits of vegetable into the slow cooker, with a can of chopped tomatoes and a can of kidney beans/ flageolet beans. This is because I'm teaching all day, and also I think there is the opening ceremony for the Shopi-now-to-be-Carrefour-Contact supermarket where Mr FD works. I may be forced to consume a glass or two of wine!

If I remember to take my camera, photos will be published.

THURSDAY: Hairy Cod and prawn gratin (with some tweaking) I'll probably use a different white fish, and I'll use fewer prawns and no smoked haddock. I'm never really sure about whether one should post recipes on line - which is why I generally link to other people who have posted them. But I'm sure you can guess what's in a gratin of fish and prawns. What makes it "diety" is the lighter topping than a fish pie - breadcrumbs and a small amount of cheese - and a sauce made with cornflour, not cream.
However I read a tip for making a low fat white sauce that works, although the sauce has a slightly bizarre texture - chop an onion into 4, peel a clove of garlic. Put in microwavable dish, and cover (just) with water. Microwave for about 4 minutes, until onion is soft. Zuzz until smooth with a handblender/food processor, water + about 75 ml semi skimmed (or skimmed, if you prefer) milk included in the zuzzing. Add more milk to give a looser texture. Season to taste.
I would guess this is lower in calories than the cornflour sauce. It's already got onion & garlic so is quite toothsome, and doesn't require the milk to be infused (if that's what you do. I certainly don't!)

FRIDAY: Hairy Harissa Chicken with Bulghar Wheat salad. I have a mixture of Quinoa and bulghar wheat, so I'll be using that. Otherwise I'll be following the recipe - with Angela's Carrot Pottage to start.
For lunches, I'm making a Hairy Egg and bacon quiche - a few tweaks again. The link takes you to a YouTube video, but ingredients/method is included. I'm leaving out the asparagus, but possibly adding courgette in its place. The trick is to use sheets of filo rather than shortcrust pastry, and again cornflour is used as a thickening agent for the custard, instead of cream.

SATURDAY: Hairy Chilli - it's a basic chilli recipe, TBH, but with common sense about portions, cooking without extra oil, and not having too much rice with it. I'll maybe do rice for Mr FD (or he can have a lump of baguette)because he will have probably been cycling - and any way he's much more active than I am - but I'll probably just have salad.

SUNDAY: For lunch, I'm hoping to make Hairy smoked mackerel pate - again common sensical smoked mackerel, low fat mayo, low fat yoghurt and seasoning mixed together - to have with a bit of bread and salad. For dinner, it's Hairy cumin crusted vegetables with a small steak each. Again, soups will be provided.

If you have any interesting, low fat/low calorie soup recipes (preferably vegetable based) do please direct me to them. I usually do a "That'll do, Pig" soup, throwing in everything and anything without fear nor favour. But from time to time it's nice to have a soup that is planned to taste nice!

I hope your week has as many delicious sounding meals in as mine! And I hope my meals are as delicious as they are delicious sounding!!!

Weigh in tomorrow. I must remember that even losing 500g is the equivalent to losing TWO of these

Which is great. If I have managed to get down by 1 kg I would be truly delighted, but I think that is possibly being too hopeful. After all, the exercise has been severely curtailed.

I have two blogs...this one, generally about food, and my other "View From The Teapot", at dormouse.wibsite.com which is more about our life in France. I'd love to see you at one or the other - or even both!